Slings are regularly used with firearms to allow for a convenient method of carry and for weapon retention in dynamic environments. Traditional slings mount onto the bottom of a weapon at two points, fore and aft, allowing for suitable carry over long distances and may be used as a steadying aid to improve weapon accuracy. While it offers the user the ability to carry the weapon comfortably over the shoulder or securely across the back, the traditional, bottom-mounted 2-point sling hinders weapon usage in dynamic combat environments since the weapon is stowed in a non-useable orientation. While 2-point slings may be used in combat as an accuracy aid by being wrapped around the arm or other techniques, this encumbers the user through entanglement in the sling itself and is mostly useful only for long-range engagements.
Due to these limitations, side-mounted 2-point or 3-point slings were developed to allow for improved usage as these systems allow the user to carry a weapon comfortably on the front of the body in a usable low-ready position instead of over the back or shoulder. These systems typically incorporate the ability to carry over-the-back or shoulder, like a traditional sling, since these carry positions are useful for climbing, swimming, low (belly) crawling or when maximum frontal dexterity is needed when carrying supplies or wounded. While these slings were a major improvement over the traditional sling, they primarily were intended for use from a single-side and require manual adjustment to allow for transitions from side-to-side in dynamic situations. Additionally due to the amount of strap material used to wrap around the body they can also interfere with chest-mounted equipment, such as on load-bearing vests. Traditionally, sling swivels have been used to secure slings to the weapon. These swivels have taken many forms but they all have similar characteristics: namely, they are rotatable (swivel) about a point and are usually an elongated loop through which sling material may be threaded. They have been positioned on either side of the weapon, so that the sling may be said to be mounted on either side, or on the upper and lower surfaces of the weapon, so that the sling may be said to be mounted along the weapon, or a combination thereof.
Recently, soldiers have more frequently been encountering dynamic battle scenarios such as enemies at close range, urban and confined-space engagements which make a more nimble sling system necessary. One such sling in current use is what could be termed a point-type sling, like the SINGLE-POINT® sling by Wilderness Tactical Products, LLC. This style of sling connects to the weapon at a single point, usually on the side of the weapon, between the traditional fore and aft connection points of a 2-point sling. A point type sling usually mounts aft of the grip but forward of a traditional rear sling mount. The sling may be threaded directly through a loop that is mounted on the weapon or the sling may be furnished with attachment hardware that clips into a ring or quick-detach cup mounted to the weapon at that location. Regardless of the actual mounting method, this point type mounting allows for greater freedom of motion as compared to traditional 2-point slings which span most of the length of the firearm. Additionally they have less loose strap material to become entangled in chest-mounted equipment. However, one disadvantage of the point-type sling is that it requires constant hands-on control of the weapon during movement as otherwise it will swing like a pendulum and may become unwieldy when not in use. Furthermore due to the instability of this configuration, it is not optimized for comfortable carrying of the weapon over long periods of time or long distances.
Convertible sling systems have been developed to address the limitations of both the side-mounted 2-point slings and the point-type sling and allow the user to easily optimize the sling system for the mission at hand. This resolves many of the limitations of the individual carry methods by allowing the user to rapidly configure and select the mode of carry. However, even with the advent of the convertible sling system, there still exists a major limitation: the ability to rapidly transition the weapon from side-to-side without additional manual operations.
The use of any sling, by its nature, encumbers the user by placing the weapon on the user's body. While convenient for carrying the weapon and securing it against loss, slings must be inherently made for use of the weapon while the sling and weapon are still attached to the body of the user. Most slings account for this and will usually allow a user to assume the user's dominant shooting position (usually a left or right-handed stance, while standing, kneeling or prone). In the majority of situations up to this time, this allowance has been sufficient.
Due to the demands more frequently encountered close-range urban combat, there is need for multiple carry options and a quick side-to-side transition capability lacking in the prior art. The lack of this capability is particularly hazardous when hunting for a hidden enemy as, when looking around corners and other obstacles, a soldier must occasionally expose his or her body to obtain an appropriate look. To compensate for this obvious danger, soldiers will typically change their stance (i.e. going from a right-handed stance to a left-handed stance) in order to look around such obstacles and still cover most of their bodies with the obstacle they are looking around. This procedure is hindered (and depending on the configuration, prohibited) when using a sling that is hard mounted to one side of the weapon. In order to effectively look, the sling must be extended to its largest possible configuration or the soldier must simply remove the sling, which both eliminates its usefulness and creates a tangling hazard. What is needed then is a sling that can migrate between left and right-handed stances and accommodate other possible positions a user may use in the course of battle or for convenient carry and retention, while simultaneously maintaining the sling in a secure fashion on the weapon.
Generally, sling fittings are used to provide mounting points for one of more of the various sling types and configurations. Sling fittings are primarily produced in front, rear and more recently point-type varieties. As an example, the AR15/M16 was not designed to accept a point type sling but many such sling fittings are on the market today which modify the weapon and provide such mounts, each with their own individual advantages. For this system the mount is usually a plate that slides over a receiver tube of the firearm and resides between the receiver and the stock when the weapon is assembled. The plate then presents planar attachment loops along its sides to allow for connection of the sling. Loops may be small elliptical holes for point-sling attachment with a clip or elongated slots for threading sling webbing through the plate. In both cases the attachment point is planar, within the plane of the plate and along the side of the weapon. Being along one side of the weapon, then, presents the adaptability difficulties presented above.
The present invention includes a sling fitting with a transitional crossbar that allows a point-type sling to cross from left to right across the weapon. It presents registration geometry so as to interface with the weapon and keep the fitting from rotating. The present invention represents a departure from the prior art in that the fitting of the present invention allows for transitional use of a point-type sling so that it may be used in either a left or right-handed stance without detachment from the weapon, does not require manual adjustment, and allows a greater range of motion in general. It also still keeps the sling securely attached to the weapon. The invention also includes a sling convertible between a two-point and a one-point mounting with a rapid length adjustment feature to accommodate different modes of carry such as over-the-shoulder, across-the-back, two-point or point-type low ready.